King Arthur Movie Tristan

title: Benny & Shrimp


author: Katarina Mazetti

pages: 209

genre: fiction/romance

published: 2008

first line: You'll have to be on your guard!

rated: 4 1/2 out of 5






Desiree is a lonely widow who visits her husbands grave nearly every day. Her husband of five years passed away suddenly one day when he was hit by a truck. She notices a man named Benny who visits the cemetary every day to visit his parents graves. Benny notices Desiree sitting on 'his bench' and one day the two look over at each other and smile. I love this moment in the story! This is how the smile is described:

He smiled, too. And...

There's no way of describing that smile without resorting to the wonderful world of cheesy song lyrics.

It had sun and wild strawberries and birds singing and expanses of glittering water in it. And it was directed at me, trusting and proud as if he were a child presenting me with a misshapen birthday gift. The corners of my mouth were still stretched wide. And an arc of light flashed between us, I'd still swear it even today-a blue one like my physics teacher could produce with that special generator thing of his. Three hours passed, or maybe three seconds.

Soon after Benny follows Desiree as she leaves the cemetary one day and finds out she works at the library. He asks her out for lunch, and she agrees. The two begin seeing each other.

Benny is a down to earth milk farmer who wants to have a wife one day who will help out on the farm, cook him meals and take care of him. Desiree is a modern, book loving independant woman who doesn't really like to cook or care much for milk farming. Even though they are opposites, the two quickly fall madly in love. Benny thinks Desiree is a 'hoity-toity' name and gives her the nickname 'Shrimp' instead.







I found Benny & Shrimp to be a quirky, sweet and charming book, the kind of read that can make you smile while reading it. I laughed out loud several times. I liked both Benny & Shrimp's characters and how they find each other, and fall in love despite being complete opposites. I liked how each chapter starts off with a quote from Shrimp's journal. I also enjoyed how the chapters are told alternately by Shrimp and then Benny, so the reader can get the point of view from each character.

I also liked that the author leaves the ending up to the reader.



Here's a few of my favorite passages:

Love makes others into doves,

gazelles, cats, peacocks-but I,

quivering, wet, and transparent-

am your jellyfish

I call her Shrimp. It fits her so well it's almost cruel. Pale, curled around her soft parts, with her shell on the outside. And long feelers.

There's so much about her I don't understand.

Surely it's possible to live this way, to be simply the best of friends, he on his star and she on hers, having fun together when loneliness breathes too heavily down thier necks?

Surely it's possible?

Benny & Shrimp was first published in Sweden in 1998 and came to be translated in 2008.


This book was an ARC from http://www.fsbassociates.com/.